Hughes takes a hit, but it might help

NEW YORK -- The problem all along with Phil Hughes, Version 2008, was that the Yankees didn't know, couldn't know what to expect from him.

Well, now they do. Now that Hughes has been diagnosed with a stress fracture of his rib, the Yankees know they'll basically make it to the All-Star break without getting any help at all from the guy who began the year as their No. 3 starting pitcher.

On its face, this is a troubling fact. But for Phil Hughes, and for the 2008 Yankees, it may be a blessing in disguise.

This was a tough trick the Yankees were trying -- are still trying -- to turn this year. They want to win now, while at the same time build for the future. They've thrown Hughes and Ian Kennedy into their starting rotation with orders to learn on the job, continue their development by trying to get major-league hitters out and also win the games the Yankees need to win to make it to the postseason.

Most teams don't do it that way. Most teams, if they're trying to transition young pitchers into the major leagues, accept that they'll have to take some lumps along the way -- lose more games than they'd like to lose, maybe sit out the playoffs for a year or two while things improve.

But the Yankees ... they can't accept that. The Yankees have sold too many very expensive tickets for 2008. They have spent too much money (another year north of $200 million) on their roster. They have locked themselves into a cycle of success that their fans and ownership take for granted, and neither those fans nor that ownership is likely to accept a year of watching the postseason on Fox and TBS.

"There's no set playbook on this issue," Yankees GM Brian Cashman said the other day, before they knew how seriously Hughes was hurt.

No, it's a real tough plan they've set out for themselves, and we can't tell from here whether they'll be able to pull it off.

But what happened yesterday -- the stopping of the clock on Hughes' 2008 season -- might end up doing him and his team some good.

This was all starting to look like too much for the 21-year-old superprospect, who, until the Angels called up Nick Adenhart yesterday, was the youngest pitcher in the major leagues. Hughes seems to have all the tools -- big kid, sharp kid, not to be overwhelmed by the magnitude of it all. Seems that way. But ...

"But then you watch him pitch," Andy Pettitte said. "And you're thinking to yourself, 'What happened to his location? What happened to his command?' That kind of stuff. He's going through what any typical young pitcher his age goes through. The only problem is, it's here. And when it's here, everybody knows, it's magnified."

Hughes might have been able to get away with an 0-4 April in Kansas City. He may have been forgiven a 9.00 ERA in Pittsburgh. Places like that, they can throw the kids out there and let them take the punishment that helps build their character and teaches them how unforgiving life in the big leagues can be.

But when you're pitching in New York, for the Yankees, and you come in with the kind of hype Hughes brought with him, every start gets analyzed. Bloggers debate your mechanics. You go on the disabled list with an oblique strain and talk radio spends the next day telling everybody the injury is fake.

"Maybe the expectations of this whole year, maybe that's too much," Pettitte said. "It's not like there'd be any shame in that. He's 21. The buildup for him was a lot."

Pettitte still thinks there's some value in Hughes and Kennedy pitching in the majors at this point in their lives, even if their ERAs and their confidence are getting banged around for it. He believes Hughes is capable of getting people out at this level, and the organization shares his opinion.

"I know he can pitch here, because I saw him do it last year in a pennant race as well as in October, in the playoffs," Cashman said. "So I know it's not the environment, although at times your confidence can go up and down."

So now Hughes gets a couple of months off. Not what anybody wanted, of course, but there could be some benefit. He could clear his head, figure out what he was doing wrong and come back with a few extra mph on that old fastball. The team, in the meantime, can give the ball to a Darrell Rasner or a Kei Igawa -- somebody who may not have Hughes' talent but also isn't burdened by the same expectations. They can patch it together, certainly, because it's not as if he was winning games for them or anything like that. And maybe he and they will be better for it in the end.

No set playbook, remember. The Yankees are flying blind here -- trying to pull off something that most teams don't dare. Win now and build for the future, simultaneously.

Maybe Phil Hughes will be better able to help them in July than he was in April.